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Chapter 18
Eighteenth Bone: "The Hearts of Weapons: Soul Tug-of-War" is the seventeenth (numbered eighteenth) chapter of [[Manga|the manga B. Ichi]]. It was collected as part of Volume 4. Featured Appearances Plot Fear Robot Hangar, Fear Factory The Fear Robot, having reconstituted its fists, pulls back its right first, ready to strike at Shotaro, empowered by Kyokotsu but standing still. As soon as the first nears him, however, Shotaro leaps above the fist, lands, and immediately kicks into the fist, destroying it again. Nofix, piloting the Fear Robot, is dumbfounded. He initiates Spinning Cells again to reconstitute the Robot's right fist. Shotaro, with Yohei behind him, stand and observe this reconstitution. Nofix mocks the duo that so long as he lives, he can regenerate limbs and hence is effectively invincible. All Nofix has to do is tire Shotaro out. But then Nofix reflects how regenerating so many times is expending his lifespan, which makes him cry over how he will die so young. As the Fear Robot continues its attack upon the dodging Shotaro, Tool, his dome cracked, lies on the floor. But he hears a voice: "Please stop me." Spiritual Space meets the soul of the Fear Robot]] Tool appears dressed in a kimono. Someone speaks to him: "I never wanted to be born as something like this...I didn't want to be something that hurts people and nature. I wanted to be born as something that would be loved by people." Tool realizes this voice belongs to an inanimate object, namely the Fear Robot itself. Tool then witnesses the Robot alternate between asking that it be stopped, and ranting about a desire to destroy, "to win freedom of killing." These alternating desires for war and to be stopped confuse Tool, who realizes the Robot's good and evil voices are crossing each other. Fear Robot Hangar Nofix mocks Yohei, asking that he inform Shotaro to stop trying and accept his inevitable death at the hands of the Fear Robot. Upon hearing that Nofix can heal no matter how many times he is attacked, Shotaro decides, "I won't attack him, so he won't heal!" Yohei points out how ridiculous that plan is, but Shotaro is adamant. "I wouldn't count on that!" Hearing this voice, Yohei turns to see Tool, back on his feet and leaning on his pickaxe. The kappa announces that he will remove the soul from the Fear Robot itself. Yohei and Shotaro are surprised to hear this plan, to remove a life force from an inanimate object. Impatient, Nofix has the Fear Robot approach Shotaro and Tool again to crush them. Shotaro uses Bone of the Bird to carry himself and Tool out of the Robot's path. As they fly towards the Robot, Tool explains that kappa are able to remove a person's life force anally. As Tool grew up in the Fantastic Island garbage dump, surrounded by only trash, he is adept at removing souls not from persons but from inanimate objects. Tool directs Shotaro to fly him to the Robot's head. Nofix complains that Shotaro is buzzing around like a fly, as he commands the Fear Robot to swipe at him. The hand contacts, disrupting Shotaro's flight. Shotaro uprights himself but is hit again. Tool wonders how else they can approach the Robot. Yohei calls that he can do it: he fires his Law-Abiding Silver Gun's grappler. Yet as he fires his weapon, Yohei realizes that his weapon is "not a silver gun that protects the law anymore. You're a silver gun that protect friends!" The grappler swings around the Robot, ensnaring it in its tether, tightening to prevent the Robot from moving. With this delay, Shotaro flies Tool at the immobilized machine. From within Shotaro, he can hear Kyokotsu speak to him: one person is not enough to win this battle, which is why this joint effort with his friends was necessary. begins to remove the Fear Robot's soul]] Looking out the cockpit window, Nofix sees Tool and Shotaro approaching him. Tool lands atop the Robot's head. He tightens his grip on his pickaxe. He roars as he swings the pickaxe into the Robot's head and initiates Life Force Removal. The soul of the Robot gathers around his pickaxe, coalescing and slowly being drawn out of the hole Tool dug into the machine. But as Tool pulls back on his weapon, something is holding him back: the soul within the Robot is clinging to the pickaxe, refusing to be pulled from the machine. Tool realizes how large this soul must be. As the soul of the Fear Robot emerges, someone screams, "Stop!" Shotaro flies back up to offer his assistance, but Tool refuses, saying only a kappa can remove this soul. Shotaro realizes that this Life Force is something only a kappa like Tool, not a human like Shotaro, can hear. Nofix is furious: while he can retain control over the Fear Robot, he commands it to tear at the tether. Yohei sees the wire is breaking loose. Tool continues to tug on his pickaxe, blood coming from his chipped dome before exploding lose. Tool realizes his body is being pushed back. His pickaxe descends. Nofix grimaces as he continues to tear the tether loose. Yohei is shocked. "Sho-chan!" someone shouts. It is Mana, who hurls what appears to be a chipped tile at Shotaro. He catches it, studies it--and realizes what it is. Tool is losing consciousness. He is shocked that the timing could be so badly for his body to fail when he needed to pull this soul from the Fear Robot. ues Dish of the Kappa]] Hands wrap around Tool's pickaxe--and he is surprised to see that they belong to Shotaro. The chip Mana tossed to him was from Tool's dome, technically a bone, which allows the Dokeshi to enact Dish of the Kappa. Shotaro tells Tool he now can see and hear the Robot's soul, and how sad this soul is. Both Tool and the kappa-influenced Shotaro tighten their grip on the pickaxe and pull. The Silver Gun's tether is completely shredded. Nofix grins, ready to swat down these "pesky little mosquitoes." Shotaro orders that he and Tool give one more yank on this pickaxe to remove the soul completely. They struggle, tearing at the pickaxe. The Fear Robot, under Nofix's command, hovers over its own head, ready to squish Tool and Shotaro. Again the Robot's soul screams "Stop!" before asking "Please stop me." Shotaro screams as he pulls harder on the pickaxe. The Fear Robot's hand stays frozen above its own, hovering right above Tool and Shotaro, immobile. Mana collapses to her knees. Yohei stares at the site. Shotaro and Tool have completely removed the entire soul of the Fear Robot. "Thanks, both of you," the Fear Robot's soul says to Tool and Shotaro. "No thing wants to be born as some weapon." The Robot's soul then looks to the smoldering Silver Gun and asks it, "You're happy, aren't you?" The Silver Gun, seeming to grin, replies, "Guess so." Nofix is surprised that none of his orders are making the Robot move. Shotaro is confused, asking what happens to an inanimate object after its soul is removed. Tool answers, "It becomes a thing, but not a thing...it becomes an incomplete 'nothingness.' It can never return to this earth again...It becomes unstable and eternal." Tool asks Shotaro to touch the top of the Robot's head, to feel how it seems like the object is not even there, like the two of them are just floating in the air. Nofix, overhearing Tool and Shotaro, is surprised. Tool says he hates removing a life force from an inanimate object, as that spirit cannot return to Earth and wanders for eternity, empty. Yet Tool is surprised that the Fear Robot would thank them for such a life, to choose to wander rather than stay a weapon. Shotaro grows silent. "Who gives a shit about that!?" Nofix replies. He realizes that, as the Fear Robot cannot move, he is now trapped. Annoyed at this outburst, Yohei removes a cigarette and lights it on the shattered remains of his Silver Gun. He lectures Nofix that he should relax and enjoy the little time he has left inside the Robot, as Nofix will not be able to escape no matter how he tries. Mana interrupts, noticing that the Robot seems to be shaking--then collapsing! Yohei realizes that Nofix's fight has destabilized the entire facility: the Fear Factory is about to collapse on top of all of them! Trivia *This chapter features bonus artwork of Get. Cultural References Musical Allusions Connections to Okubo's Later Works *Tool's ability to speak to and remove the souls of inanimate objects have some similarities to the abilities of meisters to sense the souls of others and the abilities of characters such as Death, Asura, and potential Kishins to absorb the souls of others in Soul Eater and Soul Eater NOT! *The discussion about whether the Fear Robot and the Silver Gun wish to become weapons has some similarities to how Demon Weapons consider their roles in the world in Soul Eater and Soul Eater NOT! References Site Navigation Category:Chapters Category:Mana Hinoki/Appearance Category:Yohei Nanami/Appearance Category:Tool/Appearance Category:Nofix/Appearance Category:Shotaro/Appearance Category:Kyokotsu/Appearance Category:Fear Robot/Appearance Category:Law-Abiding Silver Gun/Appearance Category:Get/Appearance